I’ve always dreamt of traveling to Paris, the city of love.. what could of been more perfect than traveling to Paris on Christmas morning with my boyfriend? I was super excited!
We woke up early and took the thalys from Schiphol airport to Paris Nord. This was my first time traveling by train and I highly recommend it. It takes a bit longer than by plane but its far more relaxing (I honestly get scared easily by turbulence in the plane).
We arrived at our hotel, left our luggage behind and went off to explore.
Cathédrale Notre-Dame
Notre-Dame was absolutely beautiful, definitely a must do! Outside of the Notre-Dame there are a bunch of pigeons, me wondering why, I went over to have a look and ended up having a bunch on top of me 😆
Next up was the Louvre, but we walked the wrong way for about 20 minutes before realizing we had to go the opposite way.. Good thing Paris is super stunning and walking is the best way to explore.
Louvre
It was already late and we were super tired, so we decided to get into the Louvre just to look for the Mona Lisa and then went straight back to the hotel.
This was as close as we could of get 😆
Eiffel Tower (day 2)
We payed 7 euros to climb the stairs to the first and second floor of the Eiffel Tower (I am afraid of heights but this was completely worth it!)
View from the first floor
So beautiful
Arc de Triomphe
Arc de Triomphe must be on your list. We couldn’t figure out how people got there, since it’s in the middle of a busy roundabout. After standing there for a while we left and on our way back we saw there was a tunnel to get there (yea we aren’t the smartest). You can even get on the top of the Arc de Triomphe, but it comes with a price and you have to stand in line.
Sacre Coeur
TIP: you need to walk a lot of steps before reaching the top, but for 1.90 euro you can take the lift on the side (saves you a lot of energy 😛 )
Pantheon (day 3)
TIPS:
→ Museums and some other places are free for European citizens from ages 18-25 (so bring your passport). We entered; the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Pantheon and some other places for free. The only thing we paid for was to climb the stairs from the Eiffel Tower.
→ Look out for pickpockets and scammers. We didn’t know this before coming here, but these people were everywhere.. Which is pretty logical since Paris is a touristic city. Some examples; people walk around with papers for you to sign a petition, after you sign they obligate you to pay. Gamblers on the street play this game where you have to guess where the ball is, 2/3 of the people standing around them are part of the “game”. There were many more but here are the ones we saw most often
→ The metro is the only transportation we used. Its cheap (1.90 euro a ride) and gets you to all the big monuments and museums. Other than that we walked a lot, which was the best way for us to see the city.
→ If you want to get on the Eiffel Tower with a lift or if you want to visit the Catacombs, I recommend booking something online, because there is a long line waiting for you once you arrive and haven’t booked a ticket ahead. We arrived at the Catacombs and there was a 2/3 hour line.. ops 🙁
After 3 days of exploring Paris, I completely fell in love with the city. Definitely coming back again 😀
Hope you guys enjoyed the pictures and tips, don’t forget to check out my boyfriends video of our trip click here. Till next time!
-x- Jenna
Enjoyable blog.